"Aggie Assurance" - What's Your Past Experience with this FinAid?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Texas A&M University
1

<p>Here is what I've learned about the Texas A&M "Aggie Assurance" financial aid program for low-income folks (see <a href="https://financialaid.tamu.edu/types/aggie_assurance.aspx"&gt;https://financialaid.tamu.edu/types/aggie_assurance.aspx&lt;/a> for details):
[ul]
[<em>]This tuition grant is not reflected in the financial awards in 'Howdy'
[</em>]Finaid office said it will be applied as a credit on the 12th day of fall classes (one requirement is that you be 'enrolled')
[<em>]There is a caveat on their page that says
[quote]
"</em>*<em>This program is subject to funding availability."

[/quote]

[li]It appears that you must go ahead and pay for the full cost you owe at registration, and then you will be refunded the "aggie assurance"-covered piece (tuition)[/li][/ul]
Here are my questions for those of you that have experience with this type of aid at A&M:
[ul]
[li]Did you ever meet all the requirements and end up NOT receiving the aid? If so, what was the reason?[/li][</em>]Is this award stackable with other grants (like Pell). For instance if tuition is 9000 and pell is 3000, can your total aid be 12000 or will they reduce the "aggie assurance" grant by the amount of the Pell?
[<em>]Am i correct in the way i understand the 'pay first and get a refund' nature of this program?
[</em>]Will this 'ever' show up in the 'Howdy' portal, even under some other name?
[/ul]</p>

<p>Bottom-line question: When comparing finances of Texas A&M with other schools in order to make a decision on where to attend, how much can we 'count on' this aid assuming we remain 'low-income'.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for your help!</p>

2

<p>The "aggie assurance"will not show up on financial aid portal. It is just a combination of grants and scholarship to cover all tuition for eligible students. So the minimum aids you can expect to get is full tuition. Assuming the tuition is about $9,000, you should expect to get AT LEAST $6,000 worth of aids ( it may be just one grant or several scholarships combined) if the only thing you have right now is $3,000 Pell grant.
And I don’t think you have to pay the tuition first and get a refund. The tuition will be deducted from your aids, which will always be enough for that.</p>

3

<p>No wonder I had like 5 grants and just scholarships. That must be it wow. Texas a&m rocks</p>

4

<p>Anyone with past experience with this aid, please share. no need for opinions or guesses since i’ve got plenty of those on my own :-)</p>